Confederation, universal health care rank highest in history poll.

Canadians are about to get a major dose of remembrance about the
country’s participation in the First and Second World wars, but a new
nationwide survey has ranked the introduction of universal health care well
ahead of the wars on a list of the most important events in Canada’s history.

The poll of 1,500 Canadians, commissioned by the Montreal-based Association
for Canadian Studies ahead of a national history conference this weekend in
Toronto, puts Confederation in 1867 at the top of Canada’s most significant
moments, with the backing of 44 per cent of those surveyed.

But the adoption of the public health system in the 1960s is solidly in the
No. 2 spot, with 24 per cent calling it Canada’s key historical event.

The 1982 repatriation of the Constitution and associated creation of the
Charter of Rights and Freedoms ranked third at 13 per cent, and Canada’s
participation in 20th century wars finished fourth, deemed most significant by
10 per cent of respondents.

Those four events were offered as options, the ACS said, because they had
repeatedly topped the list of Canadians’ choices in previous surveys in which
many more events – including the construction of the transcontinental railway,
the opening of the West and other watershed moments – were also ranked for
their impact on Canadian history.

There were a few notable exceptions to the pattern. Alberta residents were
alone in ranking Canada’s war service as the second most important historical
event after Confederation. In that province, the results were Confederation (49
per cent), the wars (16 per cent), health care (14 per cent) and the 1982
repatriation (11 per cent).

Survey respondents in Quebec were, relative to those in other parts of the
country, least likely to rank the wars (seven per cent) or Confederation (38
per cent) as most important, and most likely to call the introduction of
universal health care (29 per cent) Canada’s crowning achievement.

Another 14 per cent of Quebecers listed the 1982 constitutional changes as
No. 1.

Meanwhile, on the significance of Canada’s participation the First and
Second World wars, English-speaking Canadians (13 per cent) were about twice as
likely as French Canadians (six per cent) to point to those battles as Canada’s
most important historical event.

“This part of our history does not resonate with most Quebecers,” ACS
director Jack Jedwab told Postmedia News, noting that many previous surveys
have shown a gulf between Quebec and the rest of Canada when it comes to levels
of engagement in Remembrance Day activities.

Significantly, far more men (13 per cent) than women (seven per cent) chose
the wars as Canada’s most important historical event.

Also of note in the survey were results from younger respondents – those 18
to 24 – who constituted the only age category in which the 1982 Constitution
and charter (20 per cent) outranked universal health care (14 per cent) in
perceived importance.

Jedwab suggests the landmark 1982 constitutional events are “closer to the
time frame” in which younger Canadians understand history, and that their
interest in the benefits of universal health care is – understandably – less
top-of-mind than it would be for older citizens.

The youngest respondents still considered Confederation (40 per cent) the No.
1 event and the wars (eight per cent) as No. 4 on the list.

Jedwab said the overall results once again highlight the country’s “elusive
quest for a common narrative” in which Canadians across all regional, ethnic,
linguistic, generational and gender lines might agree on a general storyline
about Canada’s past.

“It’s a very difficult challenge,” he said, to build a national consensus
around Canada’s ideal historical narrative because it’s hard for Canadians to
agree on which of many major events were the “formative moments” that “have
reshaped our country.”

Despite strong government support and strenuous efforts to promote
remembrance of the 1914-18 and 1939-45 wars, for example, those experiences
“don’t seem to rival these other events as key to constructing our identity as
a country,” said Jedwab.

At the same time, however, he noted that Canada’s participation in the wars
is still seen as enough of a “defining event” in the nation’s history that it
always ranks among the country’s top four significant moments in ACS polling.

The latest survey, conducted during the last week of October by Leger
Marketing, is considered accurate to within 1.9 percentage points, 19 times out
of 20.